at operating in combat and killing the enemy. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon with the news. why did military leaders say this had to happen now? >> essentially because women are already in combat. chairman of the joint chiefs, martin dempsey said he realized when he got into his armored vehicle in baghdad in 2003. >> and i slapped a gunner on the wagon and she leaned down and said, i'm amanda, okay, so a female turret gunner protecting the commander and times have changed and something to do about it. and life as we know, there are no guarantees of success. not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. but everyone is entitled to a chance. >> reporter: secretary panetta said that his eyes were opened when he was over at the cia and realized half of the intelligence force over there were women and he talked to the joint chiefs when he came over here to serve as defense secretary about what changes could be made, shep. >> shepard: jen, what are we hearing from women in the military? >> most have accepted this and are excited about it. what they've explained to us, this wil

center at the pentagon and the c.i.a. operations center. having works as an officer at the center i know that any information that indicates a threat to the safety of american citizens overseas is passed to other agencies mentioned above. if it is a significant message concerning american interests that is received it is the watch officers job to ensure the other agencies are informed." he goes on "there are many questions that need to be answered." i would like to present the questions. first, what was going on at the ops center of the state department in washington, dc, while our consulate was under attack if seven hours? >> we can certainly give you greater center but it is, as you have describeed, the place where communications go in and out. they were placing calls and receiving calls and deeply engaged in trying to help us. they don't reach out on their own but to help us acquire information so we could respond in real time. >> seven hours? there should have been a response. why the delay if laboring it as terrorism when it was immediately known that it was? >> again, i would say,

Excerpts 0 to 1 of about 2 results.